Means for feeding articles in stacked relation



. F. v. HART.

. MEANS FOR FEEDING ARTICLES IN STACKED RELATION.

I APPLICATION FILED 0611a. 1915. 1,352,745.

Patented Sept; 14., 1926.

Inve n tor F. V. HART.

MEANS FOR FEEDING ARTICLES IN STACKED RELATION. APPLICATION FILED OCT. I6. 1916.

1 35 2, 745 Patented Sept. M, 1928.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- T 0 all whom it may concern UNITED STATES PATE mm FRED v. HART, or LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, To

UNITED snon MACHINERY CORPORATION, o rATERSoN, NEW JERSEY, A ooRPo- RATION on NEW JERSE MEANS FOR FEEDING ARTICLES IN STACKED RELATION.

Be it known that I, FRED V. HART, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Meansfor Feeding Articles in Stacked Relation;'and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to means for feed: ing pieces or articles of sheet heel material successively from a stack.

The invention is particularly adapted for use in feeding pieces of sheetheel material Which are wedge-shaped or tapering in one of their dimensions, and therefore not uniform in thickness. In feeding articles or pieces of sheet material, it is common to arrange them in a stack, andto'discharge them successively from one end of the stack. This mode of operation is easily carried out where each article is of uniform thickness from one extremity to another, so that the articles will stack in parallel positions when lying one against another. When the artiticles to be fed are not of uniform thickness, however, but are tapered or wedgeshaped in one dimension, such articles will not stack properly if lying loosely one against another with their similar extremi ties together.

the present inventor, a feed-mechanism has been disclosed which is adapted to operate upon wedge-shaped articles of sheet heel material which havebeen stacked with their similar extremities together, the method employed in the mechanism of said application involving the use of special means for supporting the thinner edges of the articles in;

suitably spaced relation and out of contact Specification of I.etters Patent.- Patel liled Sept. 14, 1920. "Application filed October 16, 1916. Serial No. 125,953. i

posed between the thinner extremities of the ad acent articles, and in accordance with may be readily stacked with their central planes in parallel-ism without the necessity of any special provision for supporting their thinner extremities, but it will be apparent that if they be discharged one by one in theusual manner from the end of the stack, they will occupy, as so discharged, alternate positions with respect tothe'ir thicker and thinner extremities.

the thicker extremity of the article interthe present invention, the articles are so arranged. The articles, when so arranged,

Broadly considered, therefore, the present invention contemplates acting upon tapering or non-uniform articles of sheet material that are stacked in alternate or dissimilar relation in such manner that they "are all caused to occupysimilarpositions with respect to their thicker and'thinner extremities. In the specific machine hereinafter described, this result is attained by turning the articles about axes 'paralleLto their surfaces after they a're' discharged from the stack. The invention, as defined by'the .claims, however, is not so restricted, but is 'of suff cient scope to include turning. the

articles about other axes and'either before Y 7 or during their discharge fromthe stack. One object of the present invention is to The mechanism of the present invention is well adapted for use in cases where wedgeshaped blanks, such as those used 'in the 1 construction of shoe-heels, are produced in to the original surfaces of the blank or strip. In such a case, the pair of blanks so produced may be stackedone upon the other in duced by the severing operation,so that not only are the thicker and" thinner extremities alternated, but also the inclined sur- With reference to blanks so arranged, a broad feature of. the present invention resides in operating upon the pieces in a mannor to insure that they occupy similar positions, not only with respect to their thicker pairs by severing "uniformly thick blanks or strips eachinto two pieces by a cut inclined the relative position in' *.vhich they are pro- V faces produced by'the severing operation are together or in contact.

To the foregoing ends, the invention resides in the mechanism for feeding articles of sheet material in stacked relation hereinafter more particularly described, and

. blanks from the stack. ,ticipate-in the operation of turning the i blanks, and this operation is facilitated and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings Figure 1 isa side-elevation of'a feed-mechanism constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, partially in sec-- tion on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; r V

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of a piece of sheet-material of uniform thickness;- 7

Fig. 4 is a crosssection showing the material of Fig. 3 divided into two wedge- Fig. 7 is a rear-elevation in section on the line 7- 7 in Fig. 1 ;l and Figs. 8 and 9 show, in vertical section looking from the rear toward the front, two

different positions of the feed-mechanism V and the articles fed thereby.

In the specific form of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the articles operated upon aresubstantially rigid wedge shaped 1316068 of sheet-materlal, such as those employed for the wedge-lifts of certain types of shoe-heels. These pieces are preferably stacked in strictly alternate posie V tions, that is, with the thicker edge of one. blank in engagement with the thinner edge 'of the next blank, and are then discharged one by one from the end of the stack, and

each piece,*as it is discharged, is supported momentarily near its thinner edge, so that by the action of gravity the thicker edge is caused to fall while the blank swings about a line at which it is supportechtheresult being that the lift descends into a dischargechute or passage with its thicker edge foremost in each case. r

The invention is illustrated as embodied This magazine has a rear-wall 10 and two side-walls 12. The front of the magazine is to a considerable extent open, but is partly closed by vertical flanges 14, projecting in-- wardly from the side-walls 12, and by a crossbar 16 near the top of the magazine. The open space at the front of the magazine permits access for convenience in stacking the blanks therein and observing the quantity 'of blanks remaining in the stack. The rear-wall10 extends downwardly to a base 18, and constitutes means for supporting the magazine.

The means for controlling the discharge of the blanks comprise two pushers 20 and 22 in the form of thin plates, and two supporting-members, in the form of pins 24 and 26, which cooperate with the pushers 20 and 22 inv controlling the discharge of The pins also parcompleted by two spring-fingers 28 and 30 and two curved guide-walls 32 and 34. r The pushers 20 and 22are fixed on the lower ends of upright levers 36, located on opposite sides of the magazine, and the 'upper ends of these levers are pivoted to the magazine by means of pivot-screws 38, so that the levers may be swung outwardly The pins 24 and 26 project rigidly, in horizontal position, from the upper ends of two arms 40 by which they are supported, these arms 7 being pivoted at their lower ends, on studs from the sides of the magazine.

42on the guide walls 32 and 34, and these walls being formed integrally with the base 18. The spring-fingers 28 and 30, which may be formed of resilientv strips of metal, are also secured to the guide-walls.

Forthe purpose ofactuating the mechanism,a drive-shaft 44 is journaled, in horizontal position, in a bearing supported on the base 18, and this drive-shaft is connected, by means such as a sprocket-chain 46, with any suitable source of power. At its forward end, the shaft-carries a crankdisk in which a crank-pin 48 is fixed, and this pin plays ina horizontal guideway 50 formed on a slide 52. This slide moves vertically in ways 54 fixed to the rear-wall 10 of the magazine, and the slide is provided, at its ,upper end, with an arm '56 which is pivotally connected with twobars 58. The bars are slotted at their upper ends so as to embrace pivot-pins projecting, respectlvely, from the levers 36. A tensionsprlng 62 connects the levers and tends to swing them toward each other and into the position shown in Fig. 7.

The pins 24 and 26 are actuated byconnection with the levers 36. For this purpose, pivot-pins 64, projecting forwardly from the levers, are connected, by crossed links 66, with the two pins respectively, so that each pin participates in the movement of the oppositelever 36, the pins-being guided in an approximately horizontal directionby the arms 40 swinging about their pivots 42.

7 In Figs. 6, 8 and 9, the blanks 68 are shown as stacked in strict alternation with their central planes in parallelism, the thicker edge of each blank being in engagement with the thinner edges of the blanks immediately above and below. At the time the magazine is first loaded with blanks, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the weight of the stack is supported by the pushers 20 and 22, the lowermost blank resting directly upon the pushers. By the rotation of the drive-shaft, the slide 52 is then raised, and the bars 58 swing both of the levers 36 outwardly, so that the pushers are swung outwardly from the bottom of the stack to a position somewhat beyond that shown in fered with, however, by engagement of the 1 ends of the pushers with the edges of the blanks. The relation of the parts is such thatthe lowermost blank lies with its thinner edge entirely clear of the side-walls 12 of the magazine (see Fig. 8). Accordingly this blank is free to be moved horizontally in its own plane and in the direction of its thinner edge, and this occurs owing to the pressure against its thicker edge of one of the pushers. As shown inFig. 8, the lowermost blank is in position to be ejected toward the right by the pusher 22, and this pusher accordingly swings inwardly under the in fluence of the spring 62. At the same time, the blank next to that at the bottom of the stack is engaged, ,at its thicker edge, by

the pusher 20. The thinner edge of this blank, however, .is not in position to permit the blank to move, since it is in engagement with the side-wall of the magazine. Accordingly the pusher 20 is prevented, at this time, from moving inwardly, and the pusher 22 alone moves. In doing so, it also moves the pin 24, causing this pin to travel to the right, as shown in Fig. 9,'with the blank. This movement continues, until the thicker edge of the blank has passed beyond the pin 26, while at the same time the thinner edge of the blank is pushed against the heels.

prevent'it. from jamming between the pin and the lower surface of the pusher 20. In

Fig. 9, the blank is shown in the act of falling, and it fallsupon the curved guidewall 32, whichcontinues the turning movement of the blank so as to insure that it shall be dischargedwith the thicker edge downward. The base is shown as provided with an opening through which the blank is discharged into a guide chute 70, by which it. may be directed to any machine in which the blank'is to be utilized or'operated upon.

The next reciprocation of the slide 52 causes the pusher 22 to be withdrawn from beneath the stack of blanks, at the same time pulling the pin-2e inwardly to its original position. The stack of blanks then descends in the magazine until it again rests on the pins 24 and 26 bringing the thinner edge of the lowermost blank, still engaged at its thicker edge by the pusher 20, below the wall 12 and permitting this blank to be ejected in the manner just described. When the pusher 20 is operating to eject blanks, the

blank turns about the pin 26 and is urged.

into the guide chute 70 by the spring-finger 30. 7

While it is necessary that the blanks be so arranged in the magazine that the thicker .and thinner edges alternate to provide, at 'each side of the stack, a substantially equal 'n-umber of thick and thin edges, it is not necessary that there be a strict alternation. On the contrary, the blanks may be so stacked as to bring the corresponding edges together in several adjacent blanks without preventing the production of a suitable stack, and the present'niachine will operate regardless of such irregularities in the stacking of the blanks,ifor in every case the lowermost blank of the. stack will be 'dlscharged in one direction or the other, automatically, according to the locationof its thicker and thinner edges, and will then be turned-automatically so as to bring its thicker edge below. It should be understood, therefore, that in the'claims the terms alternating and alternately? arenot used in a strict sense, and are not exclusive or" an arrangement in which the alternation is more or less irregular. I v The invention has been particularly described in-so tar "as it relates to i'eeding articlesof sheet material all in the same position with respect to their thicker and thinner extremities. In some cases, however, it is desirable that the position be uniform with respect also to the lateral surfaces or faces of the articles. Reference has been made to the use of such a machine in connection with the wedge-lift for shoe- One method by which such wedgehfts may be manufactured is to produce a 3, and to divide this strip into two wedgeshaped pieces by splitting it on an inclined plane, as shown in Fig. 4. In each of the strips so produced, there is a surface '74: which is at a right-angle to the thicker edge 76 of the strip and a surface 78which is at an acute angle to the edge 76. The strip is then divided into shorter pieces or lifts. In utilizing one of these wedge-lifts iii a heel it is desirable that it be placed with the surface 78 at the top, since this causes the edge '76 to lie at an angle more nearly approximating the angle of the pitch of the heel, so that the material may be more economically utilized than if the lift were in inverted position. Accordingly, in feeding such wedgelifts, it is desirable to feed them all in posi tions which are similar, not only as to the thicker and thinner edges, but also as to the tWo non-analogous faces of the lifts. In accordance with the present invention, this is accomplished by stacking the lifts in the magazine in pairs, in the relative position shown. in Fig. 4. W'lieii so stacked all of those lifts which have their thicker edges 76 at the right, for example, will have their inclined surfaces 78 at the top, while all those lifts which have their thicker edges at the left will have their inclined surfaces 78 at the bottom. Upon considering the mode of operation of the illustrated machine, it will be apparent that when the lifts are so arranged, each lift will be discharged with its surfaces 74 and 78 in a given position, owingito the fact the lifts of each pair are swung in opposite directions after their discharge from the magazine. v

hile the illustrated mechanism embodying the present invention showsa magazine for receiving such small tapering articles of sheet material as wedge-lifts for shoe-heels, it is to be understood'tliat, broadly considered, the invention is of utility in handling tapering articles of sheet material of varir ous dimensions and is not limited to any particular shape or size of blank, the true scope of the invention being found defined tions with respect to their thicker and thin ner extremities.

2. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having, in combination, a means for holding a stack of sucharticles in dissimilar positions; and

means for withdrawing the articles successively from the stack and for turning the articles, so \Vltl1Cl1'ELW11',,l11t0 similar positions with respect to their thicker and thinner extremities. f

8. A shoe machine for feeding articles of sheet heel material, having, in combination, means for holding a stack of such articles with their thicker and thinner extremities alternating, and means for witlidrawing the articles successivelyfrom the stack and turning the articles so withdrawn alternately in opposite directions, so as to bring them all into similar positions with relation to their thicker and; thinner extremities. p c

4. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having in combination, means for'holding the articles in a stack with their thicker and thinner extremities alternating; and means for withdrawing articles successively from the end of the stack and for swinging them, about axes transverse to the direction of extension of the stack, to bring the articles into similar positions with respect to their thicker and thinner extremities. 7 i

5. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having, in

7 Combination, means for holding a stack of articles arranged in pairs with the th cker extremity of each article contiguous to the thinner extremityof the article paired therewith; and means for discharging articles successively from the end of the stack and for turning one article, of eachpair, into a similar position, with respect to its thicker and thinner extremities, to that in which the other article of the pair-is discharged.

6. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having, in

combination, means for holding a stack of such articles with their thicker and thinner withdrawing articles successively from tne stack, operating automatically, in accordance with the positions occupied by the several articles, toturn the articles so withdrawn all into similar positions with respect to their thicker and thinner extremities' 7. A shoemachine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having, in

combination, means for holding such articles stacked in pairs, with analogous faces of each pair together and non-analogous extremities contiguous; and means for delivering articlesjfrom the stack successively and all in similar positions with respect to their faces and their extremities.

8. A shoe machine for feeding articles V 7 0 tapering holding a stack of such articleswith their thicker and thinner extremities oppositely disposed; andmeans forexpelling. the articles successively from the end o fthe stack by lateral movements in opposite directions according -to' the positions of the several articles, and for thereafter turning the articles so expelled in one direction into positions similar to those of the articles expelled in the opposite direction, with respect to their thicker and thinner extremities.

1U. Mechanism, for feeding tapering 'artiicles,-hav1ng', in combination, means for holdinga stack ofsuch articles with their thicker and thinner extremities oppositely disposed; means for expelling art1cles success1vely,

from the end of the stack, each in the direction of its thinner extremity ;and means for turnin the articles, so expelled, all into similar positions with respect to their thicker and thinner extremities.

11. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having, in combination, a stack-holder in which the articles may descend by gravity; a support for the lowermost article in the stack; means for expelling articles successively from the bottom of the-stack by a transverse movement in the directions of their thinner extremities; and means for turning each article, so expelled, into a predetermined position through the action of gravity on the article.

12. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles of sheet heel material, having, in combination, means for holding said articles in face-to-face alternately stacked relation; means for supporting the lowermost article 7 in the stack; and means for delivering articles successively from. the bottom of the stack, said means being constructed and arranged to release and drop each article so delivered but to so control its fall as to turn the articles all into similar positions with respect to their thicker and thinnerextremities.

:14. A shoe machine for feeding tapering articles Of Sheet heel material, having, in combination, a stack-holder in which the. articles may descend by gravity; expelling the articles successively from the bottom of the stack and, each in the direc-- tion its thinner extremity; and means in cluding; converging guide walls for directing each article so; expelled into a position of discharge with its thicker, extremity low ermost. i T

15. A slice machine for feeding un1- formly tapering articles of sheet he'clmate- .rial having, in combination, means for holding said articles in face-toface alter- I nately disposed stacked relation, and means for delivering the successive articles from one end of the stack.- g g 16. A shoe machine for feeding I unijformly tapering articles of sheet heelmaterial having, in combination, means for holding said'articles inface-te-face alternately disposed stacked relation, and means acting positively upon the successive articles for removing them from one end of the stack. H v r 17. A shoe machine for feeding. tapering articles of sheet'heel material having, in combination, means "for holding said articles in face-to-face stacked relationwith their thicker and thinner ends alternating, and means for delivering the successive articlesfrom one end of the stack and for causing all the delivered articles to; occupy similar positions with respect to their thicker and thinner ends.

18. Mechanism for feeding tapering articles having,in combination, means for bold ing said articles inrface-to-face stacked relation with their thicker and thinner ends alternating, and means for expelling the articles successively from one end of the stack by lateral movements in opposite directions in accordance with. the positions of the several articles.

' 19. A shoe machine for feeding stacks of sheet heel material having, in combination,"

means; for

means for holding a stack of said articles disposed in face to face relation, a plural-' ity of supports upon which the lowermost 13. Mechanism, for feeding tapering ararticle in the stack rests,.means for actuating the lowermost article in one direction into an inclined position in which it is free of one of said supports and means for actuating said article in substantially the opposite direction to remove it from the other support.

20. Mechanism for feeding substantially rigid articles of sheet material having, in combination, means including members spaced apart a distance less than the corresponding dimension of the articles for supporting an article at separated marginal points, and means for pushing the article in substantially its own plane first in one direction and then in another to feed it past the supporting members and through the space between them.

21. Mechanism for, feeding substantially rigid articles of sheet material having, in combination, means including members spaced apart a distance less than v-the corresponding dimension of the articles for supporting an article at-separated marginal points, and j a plurality of pusher members for alternately engaging opposite edges of the article and actuating it in substantially the plane of the article in opposite directions to free it from the supporting members and feed it through the space between them.

22. Mechanism for-feeding substantially rigid articles ofsheetmateriai having, in combination, means including members spaced apart a distance less than the corresponding dimension of the articles for supporting an article at separated marginal points, and means for engaging the article and actuating it in substantially the plane of the article in different directions to feed it through the space between the supporting members; 7

23. Mechanism for feeding substantially rigid articles of sheet material having, in combination, means including I members spaced apart a distance less than the corresponding dimension of the articles for supporting an article at separated marginal points, and means for causing opposite relative movements between the article and the supportingmembers in the general direction of the plane ofthe article to succes- V members v most article of the stack, andmeans for en,- 7

gaging the successive lowermost'articles of of the stack and actuating them In substantially the planes of the 'a'rtlcles lII'CllffGlGIll] directions to separate them Y successively from thexstack and drop them through the space between the supporting members.

FRED v HART. 

